Oxygen

Colour, 35 mm
Russia, 2009, 75 min
IP – International premiere
Section: Forum of Independents

Synopsis

Based on the director’s own stage play, this film conveys the significance of the Old Testament Word of God, among other things, via film-clip collages. In ten chapters, the filmmaker portrays Russian life and also thematises the Ten Commandments derived from the Word. Two young presenters comment on the text, whose antithesis is embodied in a young couple, a boy and girl, both called Sasha. The performers’ speeches run like parallel monologues resembling both intimate and public confessions. The rhythm of electronic music and the hectic nature of modern life correspond to the uncontrollable stream of words, thoughts and memories. The presenters don’t ask questions, they just point to disturbing aspects of human existence. Physically present, yet essentially alienated, both Sashas blaspheme, break God’s commandments and hurt each other. But without life-giving oxygen – namely, the Word – they will die. And all this to the rhythm of hip hop, rap and breakbeat, reflected against a backdrop of distressing images of today’s Russia, distant wars, indifferent cities and hemp fields…

About the director

Ivan Vyrypaev (b. 1974, Irkutsk) graduated from drama college in Irkutsk (1995) where, after working in Magadan, he was employed as a teacher (1999–2001) and established the drama studio Performance Space (1998). After studying direction in Moscow he worked at the Teatr.doc. Centre for New Drama, and was appointed Artistic Director of Praktika Theatre after 2005. He wrote five plays which were also staged outside his native country, and several screenplays, one of which he chose for his film debut Euphoria (2006), which earned him many awards both at home and abroad. He shot Oxygen (2009) based on his own dramatic work, and his play Valentine’s Day was adapted for the big screen by Svetlana Proskurina (The Best of Times, 2007). He is the author of the book Thirteen Texts Written in the Autumn (13 textov, napisannykh osenyu). He has won a number of theatre awards (Golden Mask) and the Presidential Council Prize for his contribution to Russian literature.